Expired
by UnusualRuins
Summary: On the Starchie's Morgue the crew are tasked with the resupplying of cargo ships. These cargo ships transport minerals beyond counting are destined to be used in building new colonies for the ever expanding Land of Ooo. However a particular cargo ship might hold something that will lead to the collapse of the Land of Ooo itself.
1. Chapter 1

CH 1 _**Life on the Station**_

5:00am

Lights flickered above the steel table with twinkling stars peering through the window. In the background there was a light hum from the ventilation that can be helpful with sleeping. With the air it was a bit stale from the constant air recycling but beyond that not really bothersome. The time at the moment would be somewhere at five. If one were to wait out little before seven there will be some disappointment of no dawn coming.

The closest thing to a glow of non-electrical light would be the fiery figure sitting at the table. Along with the fire were three other figures staring out of the same port as well. What would this group be doing out in the cold room was one simple thing, waiting. "So when is it coming?" "A couple of minutes, three minutes to be exact." "This is going to be awesome! Wonder if I can get a recording from it." "You do know that there is no sound in space, right?" "Normally no, but depending on what the comet is made out of it can create certain frequencies that with - -" "Shush! Both of you be quiet, you are going to make us miss it!" "Ok guys it almost in view"

A short time passed with each waiting with bated breath. Except for the green gumdrop across the fire that is getting his device ready. "Wait for it, wait for it, now!" A white comet started to move very slowly across the port. As it crossed everyone eyes widen at the marvelous site. It only became more marvelous as the white comet began to grow in size. Minutes passed away as it slowly passed. It was the size of the baseball when a small beep and an exclamation of surprise came from the gumdrop. With the device ready he brings up to the window with a satisfied look quickly replaced with the same look as the rest.

In the back a figure came up from behind the group. The figure looked at the passing comet the group was watching. "Well you look at that! A comet passing by and a really bright one too, that's weird." A small fox in the group quickly responded to the figure. "Yeah it is pretty bright." Ignoring the last part of the comment the figure said.

It was almost an hour when the asteroid passed that everyone broke eye contact with the porthole. There was quick excitement as the whole group talked over what they have seen. This continued for a while until the figure in the back coughed to get their attention. Everyone stopped and looked back to the figure. The figure was a burley tall man with blue skin and a thick yellow mustache. "Ok it's about time for work. Everybody remembers what work they need to do for today?"

The green gumdrop was first to respond. "I need to get to the docking bay to help get the supplies ready for transport." The next one to spoke was the fire elemental. "The station's manifest needs to be updated." A grumpy MO soon followed with a disdained response. "Keep the station's system from going ka-blooey." Finally the small fox was the last one to respond. "I go back with GAZZ to work on supplies as well."

After hearing each of them Kagey spoke. "Yep those are it. Now everyone be sure to sign in before you get to work!" With that the group headed out to their respective places to get a start on work. The word 'OPEN' flickered on the door before sliding open to the lobby. The room was somewhat packed with other people heading to work. Some headed to the flight of stairs while others waited for the elevator.

The elevator opened with a bling and a couple of crew members exited. As soon it was emptied the morning crowd headed towards the elevator. The elevator was filled it began to close. Suddenly there was a shout coming from one of the larger crew members. The door began to open back up and a grey troll made it into the elevator. With that the door closed again and started too headed down.

After a couple of minutes passed the elevator stopped at the first floor of storage. Upon entering the group found themselves in an incredibly large room with shelves filled with all sizes of crates. This would be the first of the three supply halls that made the Starchie's Morgue making it a large place to begin with. Yet despite the station's great size, most of the room was held for the supply rather than for the crew.

Half of the passengers left they continued down to the next floor. After a time the door opened again to another supply hall. The fire elemental started to walk off along with some of the other passengers and proceeded to the office area.

11:00AM

In a bright lit room a malt ball was momentarily at rest. Before him on his desk was a book looked as if it was recently bought from a book store. Despite its appearance the book has been in his possession for a long time. He made sure that the book stays that way.

Inside it held text that had been around longer then the book and the reader itself. These tell of many verses of spiritual connection and the stories of those who have spread them. This is what helped him to get out the depression in his early life and has helped him through other problems in life. This would be the same with so many others before him and many others at this time.

He looked at the message that had recently arrived with gloominess welling up inside. This was easily dispelled when looked back at the book. He thought to himself if it has gotten Starchie through the worse in the past surely it will get Starchie through the present worse. With that he turned the intercom on.

11:00AM

The sound of sizzle filled the air in the kitchen accompanied with a light chopping. At the back there was fox at back of the kitchen working on the cutting board. As he was chopping away celery he thought a bit to himself. So despite it being in the century we live in now you think we would be passed the use of carving knifes and into automated foods. With that we would have food already without the haste.

On finishing that thought he brought up the cutting board to a warming pot and proceed with sliding the chopped vegetable into the waiting soup. After that he went to the stove to check on how the eggplants were cooking.

He thought on that for a while. Nah – at least working on a making a meal is giving me something to do. He stopped for amount to smell the light aroma coming from the soup. A spoon was brought up to the soup and a quick sip was made. 'That and the automated food would probably not be any good.'

_Cchhhh "Good morning everyone this is Captain Starchie. Today it is cycle 43 on the Starchie's Morgue. Starchie would like to state today's need to know. Starchie will be needing quantities of supply within the cargo to be checked. If there is any sign of supplies getting low send out a report to forward desk for resupply. And please be specific on what needs to be resupplied, we do not want another 'shrimp puff' incident. Next we have some reports electric shortages in different parts of the station. With that in mind be sure to have open connection in case of emergency. On docking bay 2 we will need a bit of a repair due to possible air leakage. Finally Starchie liked to announce that today is Videl's 58__th__ birthday, HAPPY BIRTHDAY! That will be all." Cchhhh_

Hmm sounds like it going to be a big day. With a quick look at his wrist watch he thought. Better start out the cake mix before it gets any busier. He headed quickly to the kitchen's storage room. Before the waiting could appear on the door's hologram there was a heavy zap and the hologram's light went out. He looked at the door to take in what had happened. "No worries the door should turn back on. . . ." He started to tap his foot as more time passed. "Any minute now and I'll get in."

A quick flicker of blue light passed in front of him. With the power to the door back on did the fox gave a big exhalation and proceed to open the door. "Ok first I need some eggs." The door halted before it could fully open. There was a pause before great ruckus erupted from the fox as he began to pry the door open. "No, no not today!" A sharp shriek filled the air as the door opened more till it was fully opened. Ozzy looked sternly at the door, not today!

With that the fox entered with a tired strode in to pantry. "Eggs, eggs, eggs where are you. . . There you are!" He picked up the eggs and went to exit the pantry. Only to witness the door closed with no sign of power. With that a loud groan came from in the locked door. "WHY!"

11:40AM

It was dark and cramped and the sound of grunting emanating through the darkness. The sound came from Kami Pigs, one of the electrician experts on the station. Before her there was a mess of wires pulled out of the wall. With the aid of both her little trunk and front feet shifted out the wires. Couple of feet away from her was Kirri looking through her RIG. Both held dark circles beneath their tired eyes.

With her trunk she grabbed a red wire and inspected it closely then went for the green wire. On closer look she noticed newest wire had some damage to it and proceeded to remove it. When the damaged wire was removed she than placed an undamaged wire in its place. "Let see, how about now?" Beeping sounds came from Kirri's RIG as she typed away. "No, there is no sign of a current forming. There seems to be a connection missing."

Kami went back to searching in the bundle of wires. She thought more at what could be the cause as she continued to search. All of the wires should be connected. The only wire that could be stopping the connection was that green wire. Even then it should not have cause a problem.

Annoyance filled her mind as she remembered this was the third rewiring for the last cycle. The first was the gravity malfunction in the shower room from two days ago. That took about a couple of hours to fix. Luckily no one was taking a shower yet or it would have made it more difficult. Then there was MO who was experiencing power drainage. The little machine complained the whole time during the repairs in a very disturbing slow motion manner. This went for about for the whole day. When the job was done we went to clock out and headed to bed.

It was then at 11:27 that we received a call that a door in the mess hall was experiencing power problems. At first we expected this task to be difficult as the last rewiring. Instead the only difficulty we are having was bearing the smell of soup close to burning.

While Kami continued to contemplate while searching for the culprit a muffled cry came from behind the door. "How is the door coming, did you find out what's wrong with it!?" Kirri looked back at the door and talked in the same tone. "We're still working on it!" A small thump came from within, probably him sitting down. The muffled voice spoke again in a concerned manner. "Did you at least turn the stove off?"

Kirri remembering the smell of the burning soup scrambled to turn off the stove. After regaining her composure she spotted something peculiar on the hologram display. "Hey Kami, wait second." The small pachyderm stopped to look at her. "Try one of the cables near the bottom left corner." Kami nodded and went back to the spot. Couple of minutes later sounds of the door's power returned. Kirri then pressed the door's hologram to open while Kami placed the wires back into the wall.

In the dark a fox stared back at Kirri and rushed to her. "Thank you, thank you, thank you! I thought would have stayed there all day!" The small pachyderm witnessing the small sign of affection gave a little smile. Kirri grumpily responded. "Ok yeah you're welcome. . . Isn't there a soup that needs your attention?" The pachyderm immediately retracted the smile while the fox tensed up and took a whiff in the air. He backed away from the yellow life saver and went to see if his soup was ok.

With the huggy fox busy Kirri turned to Kami. "Want to head towards the bar and get some drinks?" Kami stated hoping that all of her grumpiness be removed. "Sure, I can get this case logged in for records while we head that way."

The duo headed towards the stairwell. Kirri than asks Kami. "So how are both of your parents doing?" Kami face brightens up more than a face already cheery should be. "Oh there doing mighty well. Ma is selling her pies pretty well. With Pa he still holding onto his job stubborn as ever." The lifesaver looked thoughtfully at the pachyderm's statement. "Huh sounds like they have a solid ground even at these times."

Before heading up the stairs both of them stopped by a holographic machine. On the front of it was a blue hologram with an image of a camera with the words SAVE STATION on front of it. Kirri was the first to use it. With a wave of a hand the station proceeded to open. She started to log in the report for the malfunction kitchen door. After the report was finished she clocked out of work and logged out. Kammy came up next and repeated the same process as before.

With both sides done they now head up the stairs. Along the climb Kami remembered something. "Hey Kirri, I just remembered that I will be getting my Ma's special apple pie pretty soon. Would you want some?" A light chuckle escaped Kiri as that sentence finished. "When was the last time I said no to your mom's cooking?" The pachyderm returned a smile. "I guess that's a yes"

12:00AM

The sound of liquid being poured was the presumed background noise of the communication office. This lasted for a minute till the pouring stopped and the air vents came back as the sole background noise. "So do you think the party is going to be ready?" Carrick stated to Benjiman while he handed her cup of coffee. She returned an uncaring shrug and proceeded to take a sip of her offered drink.

Small brows bunched together on Carrick's forehead as the goblin continued to think on how this situation will blow up. His ears twitched at the sound of a snap filled the air. He looked back to the purple headed mushroom taking a sip from her cup. After a good take she responded with a calm position. "You got a message."

He looked back at the bleeping light on the computer station and proceeds to answer. As soon the screen lit up a confused ho-ho appeared in the screen. "Did Captain Starchie tell the secret birthday party for Vinyl out loud to everyone?" The goblin nodded with his response "Yeah he just did what you just said." A deep disappointed sigh came from both of them. "Well with no way this imminent danger can be avoided let us talk about something else. Like how about the recent fashion magazine!" The depression faded away with the eager buzzing now between the two. "Definitely, they did have a good idea on adding Victorian outfits to that issue. The suits they had were amazing, not to mention some of the dresses!" A shout came from seated goblin. "So agree with you on that! They made most of the suits well fitting! All except for Freddy Kallock's, he could have done a better job on the legs." There was moment before the screen spoke out. "Well he always did have trouble with making a good suit, that just him." Across from the two Benjiman only stared at them.

While the conversation continued a blip came on the radar. It glowed became dim and brighten again with a light ping for a while. The pings eventually got Benjiman's attention from the ensuing argument that was beginning. Upon her inspection it was a ship, there was a quick cross-reference on the ship's identity. A sense of surprise appeared on her face. It was the GutGrinder arriving earlier than scheduled.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 _**Nobody Home**_

12:55AM

"And you sure there has been no reactions from them?" The malt ball asked which a confused mushroom replied. "Yes, I have tried every way to get into contact with them. Other than its continuing this way nothing else has happened." Starchie thought to himself at the reason for the ship to come in earlier. The Gutgrinder was not to be in for another five cycles. The ship's captain might have wanted to get a head start on the return trip. This would be a problem for Starchie's Morgue who would have to face the continuous complaints from the same captain for not being ready.

Yet as time passed a sense that something was missing in the current situation. For once the annoyance that would accompany the ship captain's transmission started to become more desirable. "Keep communicating with them?" The mushroom nodded to his request and went to calling the empty ship. Once the call has been sent they waited for a response. Starchie hoped that the situation would have changed for the better. As minutes continued to pass there was no reaction from the ship.

He looked back at the image of the radar. The dot that was the ship showed to be on a snail's pace for about an hour. He looked back at the mushroom. "Benjiman patch Starchie to Chief Officer Cipher. While he is talkin with Cipher get another message to the Gutgrinder that we are sending help over. Much obliged!" Benjiman nodded to the captain. In an instant the screen bleeped with any image held replaced with a static screen.

1:20PM

In the security office there was rapid typing on a keyboard. Cipher was in deep concentration; if there were any other noises in the empty office it would have been easily ignored. Just a couple more taps and it will be almost done. Then out of nowhere came a quick blip along with a gasp from Cipher. In seconds the captain's face appeared on the screen._ "Chief Officer Cipher, Starchie needs to speak with you."_ Despite being angry at the interruption Cipher composed herself before asking him what the call was for. The captain proceeded to explain the situation with the bugbear keeping a straight face the whole time.

After contemplating on the situation the bugbear stated the obvious plan. "I'll get a team up and ready in hour or so." She paused for a moment when she noticed the look of uncertainty from the malt ball. "It's probably just the captain being a dingus." The captain switched out of the concern state at the security officer's statement. _". . . . Oh Starchie really hope so. Starchie out."_

The sound of a bleep came up and the image of the captain disappeared. In place an image of 'YOU LOSE' takes up most of the space on screen. In the background a horse wearing boxing gloves stands triumphantly over a sorely beaten up human boxer on the ground. A disappointed sigh came from the bugbear at this loss. She exited out of the game and proceeded to look over the documents of fellow co-workers.

1:40PM

The gummy bear in security officer RIG shook his head. "I still don't know how she can still do that." What he referred to was the carrot cake traversing the ceiling without any equipment. The carrot cake worked on switching out the dead fluorescent light with a fresh one.

The gummy bear continued to watch with amazement even as a tall mushroom walked towards him. The tall mushroom was about to greet the security officer only to stop. He looked at the gummy bear then to the carrot cake he was staring at. Upon seeing this, the mushroom saw an opening. "I see you taken a fancy to her." He spoke with an expressionless voice and a crooked eyebrow. The gummy bear unaware of the other's identity started to talk. "Well yeah, when somebody can climb a ceil– " He stopped in mid-sentence and looked to the mushroom standing next to him. "Psycho Mushroom." Haney spoke in irritation.

The plain face on Psycho had begun to crack a bit from the held in laughter. "No, no, just no. Don't even start." The gummy bear stated and started to walk away quickly in the hopes that he can avoid this. The sound of sheer laughter filled the area which removed any idea of a clean get away. "Well glob Haney, you do not have to be snippy. If you do not want talk about your love for Mrs. Bandore you do not have talk at all. I be careful though she is married you know." He was stopped in his track by the security officer "I do not have a love interest. I'm just surprise she can do all of that without a mechanical lift."

They both look back to see that the carrot cake had her back shaking to them as she was attempting to place the fresh fluorescent light into the machine. Regardless of Haney's rebuttal it was met with hysterical laughter. The laughter gradually died down as Haney continued to stare at him. As Psycho calmed down he pointed towards the cafeteria to see if the gummy bear wanted food. The gummy bear mumbled in agreement to the invite.

As they entered the kitchen an exhausted fox face came up to the counter. The fox brighten up with two new customers to the vacant cafeteria. "Hey! I see the usual two coming in for their late lunch, I'll get your usual's ready!" Both of them pulled up their rigs and paid for the cost then took the nearest table.

As they waited for their meal to be made neither of them spoke. Haney stared at the table while Psycho looked at some of the passing workers. After some time their meals were brought out.

Before they could start their meal the sound of the station's speakers came on. _Cchhhh_ "_This is Benjiman speaking, the people listed are needed to report to the docking bay. They are Rodney, __Chocolate Bar Dandy, Kami, and Haney__. I repeat Rodney, __Chocolate Bar Dandy__, Kami, and Haney._"_Cchhhhh_

After the call Haney's eyebrows furrowed with annoyance. He placed his sandwich down and wrapped with napkins to go. "It seems like you are not the only one in trouble. You think it be at the security room instead of the docking station." Haney looked at Psycho and was about to shout when the mushroom prompted a response. "Yeah I know, I know! Do not say anything." He went on to eating his still hot soup.

2:05PM

Fingers tapped on the table as a silver frog looked toward the bear. In his hand a small device was being examined. She asked about the device. "When will it be done?" The bear continued to look at the device. The silver frog tried again but louder. "When will it be done?" The bear was startled from his concentrated on the device.

"It would be almost week at best." He squinted at what appeared to be dents on the device. "How did you get a notepad into this condition? It's like it was in a wrestling match with a door too many times." The tapping came to a halt. The bear stands up from the floor while continually looking at the device. After a last look for details he finally places it in his satchel and waves a goodbye to the silver frog.

As he exits the room the sound of the stations transmission came on. _Cchhhh "This is Benjiman speaking, the people listed are needed to report to the docking bay. They are Rodney, __Chocolate Bar Dandy, Kami, and Haney__. I repeat Rodney, __Chocolate Bar Dandy__, Kami, and Haney." Cchhhh _Upon hearing the announcement Rodney turns to the silver frog. "This might take longer than a week."

2:20PM

The bugbear was now at the docking station waiting for the other members to arrive. Slowly each of the members that were picked for the team came into the area. The first to come was a chocolate bar that appeared to be happy that she was the first to show. Haney came in next with a grumpy attitude. Then finally Kami &amp; Rodney were the next to come. Both were in a conversation that was hard to follow.

She looked at the completed group gathered before her. With the small amount of time left she explained the situation. "Now that everyone is here I'll keep it short &amp; simple. Sometime at eleven today the USG GutGrinder entered in our area of space. So far the crow nest has not been able to receive any transmissions from the ship. With this in mind we will be heading over to them to see if we can solve communication problem. If anybody has questions remember keep them short"

Haney was the first to ask. "Wait if their ship is in trouble shouldn't there distress beacon have been activated?" Cipher's eyes opened a little wider and thought about it. "There can be multiple reasons for this. So far we do not know the reason for this. Next question!"

The chocolate bar came up with the next question. "How far is the ship from our current destination?" Cipher responded back. "Far enough were will have to use the warp drive engine to reach the ship." The bugbear turned her back to the group and takes in a breath. "That will be all of the questions I will be answering. Now everyone prepare your selves. When you are done head to the Cream Puff and get on." As she finished the sentence her hand was pointing to the said shuttle. Rodney was about to ask a question out loud to Cipher when a trunk nudged at his waist. He looked down to Kami to see her shaking her head.

Everybody did a quick check on their equipment before doing anything. Kami did a check on her tools to see if they were in good condition. While Hanney double checked his divot to see if it was loaded with rubber bullets. He also checked his equipment for live ammo in case it got worse. The chocolate bar satisfied with her equipment went into the shuttle's cockpit to wait for the rest of the group. Rodney went to the store to drop off Silver's notepad and brought back needed tools and equipment from storage.

As soon as their tasks were done they boarded the Cream Puff with the last one on board was Cipher. When everybody was on board the shuttle's door closed in and locked shut compressing the hull's interior. While they found their seats and buckled in, Dandy made a call to the crow's nest. _Cchhhhh _"This is the Cream Puff preparing for lift off from station do you copy?"_Cchhhhh_ A cheery voice spoke through the intercom. _Cchhhhh "Loud and clear Cream Puff! The docking bay will decompress and open up soon." Cchhhh. _ With that the vacant docking room turned pitch black with the exception of red lights blinking in and out. A robotic voice began to speak out._ "WARNING: DOCKING BAY DECOMPRESSING. PLEASE LEAVE THE DOCKING BAY AREA : DOCKING BAY DECOMPRESSING. PLEASE LEAVE THE DOCKING BAY AREA IMMEDIATELY."_

A couple minutes passed till the sudden sound of decompression filled the air. Eventually both the sound of the docking bay and the sound of decompression fell silent. The only sounds that could be heard were from the inside the shuttle itself. In front of them the gate blocking them from the vacuum of space opened. _Cchhhh_ _"Hey guys you're all set for lift off!"_ _Cchhhh. _

The shuttle began to lift slowly from the ground as buttons were being pushed. With a pull of a lever the shuttle began to move forward into space. Dandy brought up the intercom one more time. _Cchhhhh _"The Creampuff has now left the Starchie's Morgue. We are now heading to the USG Gutgrinder. Over and out." _Cchhhhh _

Upon seeing this brief moment as a good time Haney pulled out his meal and began to unwrap it. With eager glee he started to chew his way through the sandwich, every now and then taking a breath after swallowing a piece. It was when he was almost finished with the second half that Cipher noticed this act.

"Hanney, I don't think that was a good idea." She spoke to him. Hanney finished the last piece of sandwich with a content smile on his face. Only to have his face turn blank at what she spoke. "What wasn't a good idea?"

Dandy rapidly started pressing buttons then stated in loud voice. "We are now in proper distance from Starchie's Morgue. Coordinates are now placed near the U.S.G GutGrinder. Going into shock-out in. . . . Three. . . . Two. . . . One." At that point a swirling vortex appeared in front of the shuttle. The shuttle began to shake violently as it was taken into the cascading hole of light.


End file.
